happy new year from high up





it was a brilliant date day today - i met mingyao for viet beef noodles at circular road for lunch because i thought we weren't having a half day but my lovely bosses gave us a sort of half day and we left at 3 and mingyao came to pick me up. we parked the car at the ywca and had cuppachino and iced tea at the dome cafe at park mall which was really chill and good and we browsed through magazines and talked and then we decided to head to meidi-ya supermarket at liang court after seeing an article on it in a magazine from the cafe and we took a really breezy late afternoon walk through the back roads of park mall past UE square and it was really awesome in the supermarket - just like japan except when you hear the guy inside the counter cutting up the sashimi speaking hokkien. little japanese children sat on the floor watching doraemon surrounded by shelves of japanese snacks and japanese fathers and mothers bought their fresh produce and japanese things. i bought myself some cute candy and we bought a custard and red bean snack from the cart at the cashiers where the snacks were freshly made - made by japanese cook, the piece of paper on the cart said.

we sauntered back to ywca to drop our goodies and headed to cathy where we collected our tickets for 'across the universe' and we walked around a little observing the young punks and awkward youths because we were early. at eight we watched the show - don't expect a fantastic plot. story was written to fit the beatles songs and at first it felt rather contrived, so after awhile i just settled on just being soaked up in the images and the sound. i would say there's a certain poignancy in how the beatles' songs can remain so relevant to issues of today and the 60s, war and inequality; love and hate; extreme sadness, happiness; irony in all forms and acts. i'd say at the very least watch it for the graphics and the pretty colours - like sequences of postcards - and for the music. it could have been good somehow - the shots were awesome. but it was a pretty thing. and bono makes a cameo in funky tinted glasses.

after the show we drove the car to orq and had our satay and mee goreng at lau puat sat before heading up to the 47th storey to wait for the countdown fireworks at the bay. mingyao showed me around his office and later on nh and hw came up and the fireworks were beautiful from where we were except it seemed too short, although i suppose ten minutes was quite long. but it was really cool being able to see the casino and the sail condo being constructed at such a height and closeness.

hi love. it's the new year and i love you to bits.